“Yes, my lady.” Mr. Chambers’ gaze flickered to Vincent’s before he made a hasty retreat along the passageway.Superb!
They practically ran into the drawing room like children doing something they knew was naughty.
Dropping his satchel on the table, he turned to take the one she carried.
“You must be careful with these,” Brilliance admonished. “Please get them printed immediately with the original dates of composition, then return them to your mother. My mother assured Lady Winthrop of their safe return.”
Vincent laid the second satchel more slowly atop the first. He would not wish to get on the wrong side of either mother, and it nearly quelled his ardor. However, quick as a whip in a horseman’s hand, Brilliance plopped herself upon his sofa and held her hands out to him.
“Remember how it was that day at Mirabel Manor, the one before everything went wrong?” she prompted.
He had thought of her in his conservatory more times than he could count. Coming closer, he nodded, and when he took hold of her hands, she tugged him toward her.
“Let’s do that again,” she said. “Shall we?”
Vincent needed no second bidding. Joining their lips, he tilted his head until they were fused, with hers opening beneath his. Tongues fencing, stroking, teasing, his passion flared, and his arousal grew instantly.
In two shakes, she was under him, but her bonneted head hit the wooden armrest.
“Oh!”she exclaimed. “Never mind, carry on.” She slid her arms around him. But the sofa was also too shallow and too short. The other armrest was digging just below his knees, and he was in danger of falling toward the table and the precious satchels.
His tumescence softened as the situation worsened when she croaked, “I cannot breathe.”
Rearing up, resting one of his arms on the back of the sofa and the other on the table to prop himself, he apologized. “The wood is grinding into my shin bones, so I was resting on my upper body.”
She giggled. “Which was resting on me. I fear we must purchase a new couch at once.”
“Agreed,” he said, looking down into her sweet face. Still holding himself up awkwardly, he dropped another kiss on her perfect lips and then a trail down her neck before he tipped himself over into the space between the table and the sofa.
“That was inelegantly done of me,” he said, but it was precisely like the incident in his conservatory at Mirabel. And then she rolled off the cushions on top of him.
“Oof!”he expelled all the air in his lungs. When he could breathe again, he exclaimed, “My lady!”
Brilliance’s happy face loomed above him.
“Mylady,” he repeated softly.
Threading his fingers into her hair, under the bonnet she wore, he drew her down to meet his mouth in a kiss that promised hot and sensual things to come. Her plump curves were crushed to the front of him. With his arousal swiftly returned in earnest, he raised his hips so she could feel how she tortured him.
They spent the next few minutes prone and panting, their mouths everywhere they could reach without removing layers of clothing. But he could draw her skirts up the back of her and get two handfuls of her ripe, round buttocks. With this leverage, he rubbed her heated parts against his, blazing a scorching path between them.
“Vincent,” she moaned, wriggling and squirming like a flame flickering in a breeze. “I ... what is ... ? Please!”
For the first time since he was a youth, he was going to disgrace himself. And gladly, but ladies first. Releasing one of her sweet arse cheeks, he managed to get his hand around the front between their bodies and through the opening in her drawers. He found her damp and ready.
Barely touching her, after swift, sinful caresses into her curls, he felt her body tense. Brilliance’s eyes closed, and she lay her head on his shoulder while she ground against his fingers.
Entirely spent and limp, she stilled, resting heavily upon him while he finished with a few last arching strokes of his own.
For many minutes, while they returned to their senses, they remained where they were. He wondered if she had drifted off to sleep. She was so tranquil.
“Brilliance,” he murmured.
“Mm?”she answered.
“I am wedged and cannot move. Helpless as a newly whelped pup. Unless you get up and release me, I will miss dinner and have to remain on my drawing room floor forever. Which I shall not mind as long as you stay here with me.”
Starting to laugh, she raised her head and gazed down at him. “I love you, my pup.”
